On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:19:06 +0000, Martin Gregorie
wrote:


How does airfield ownership/rental affect the situation in Germany and
France?

In Germany there is a wide variety of airfield usage, ranging from
flying on active German Airforce airfields (paying very little rent)
over rented grass strips to own airfields (that became available after
1990 when many military installations in Germany were shut down and
their real estates were sold).

In Germany usually the highest priority of a gliding club is to keep
the costs for gliding low, while in France I often see comparatively
huge glider fleets for few active pilots, resulting in far higher
total operating costs.


In the UK club two-seat insurance has rocketed over the last couple of
years to the point that my club can no longer afford to operate our T.21
- its the third party cover, not the hull insurance, that's hit clubs
here. The T.21 is of course worth nothing but, as its only flown on nice
summer days its 3rd party insurance rate per hour is huge.

The fees for 3rd-party insurances have risen in Germany, too, but
overall they're still affordable.

Bye
Andreas